Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick gets a bit fired up when he hears all the talk about the upcoming football schedule being too easy for traditional standards.
The evidence to support such a claim is there. Of the 12 regular-season opponents, only USC and Michigan State are preseason top-25 teams, and even the Spartans are on the bubble of that list.
But Swarbrick said in the world of college football, measuring a schedule in the preseason is a reckless endeavor, and things could become much harder than they appear in July.
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Notre Dame's athletics director warns against underestimating teams such as Nevada, Michigan and Purdue in the preseason.
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“I think that perception is not grounded in any reality,” Swarbrick said when asked if he agrees with the masses. “No one knows who will emerge in any season to have a vastly improved team that you couldn’t have anticipated. But the other thing is, when I look at those schools, I see a whole host of factors which suggest to me there are going to be some great teams there.”
Swarbrick singled out Nevada, Michigan and Purdue as three teams he believes could be much better than where they rate in the preseason polls – Nevada because of its high-powered unorthodox offense, Michigan because of its second year under a new coach, and Purdue because its coaching situation is more settled this year with Danny Hope getting the “understudy” tag removed from his name.
“So, for people that think (the schedule) is easier, I can’t find the easier in the schedule,” Swarbrick said. “I’m not sure where they’re looking because I think it is going to be a very challenging schedule this year.”
The schedule model outlined by former Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White isn’t completely in place, but beginning this season and moving forward through at least 2011, his plan of having seven true home games, four true road games, and one neutral-site game each year is taking shape.
Swarbrick said he embraces White’s schedule model, many top programs play at least seven home games a year. But implementing the plan can be very difficult because it requires at least three teams each season that are willing to play a Notre Dame home game without benefit of a return date.
“I do embrace it. It does two things I really like,” Swarbrick said of the White’s schedule model. “It maximizes home games and it allows us to have, during the regular season, essentially a special event, almost a bowl-game like experience. It’s good for our student athletes. It’s great for the university to promote itself in another market, so I love those two aspects of what Kevin has set in motion.”
The hardship Swarbrick faces is finding those teams who are willing to come to Notre Dame for game, without the benefit of a return visit from the Irish.
“Implementing it is very hard,” Swarbrick said. “Our fans would like to see us play a top-10 team every week. Well, top-10 teams aren’t going to come on a non home-and-home basis. Top 30 teams aren’t going to come on a non home-and-home basis. And so you have to balance those things…It’s much harder than I might have thought prior to sitting down and trying to fill in those blanks.”
Other schedule initiatives under White included playing three Big East teams each season – which helps Notre Dame’s exposure on the East Coast – and to keep alive the tradition of playing at least one game a year on the West Coast.
Nothing is official yet, but momentum points to the Irish playing Army at Soldier Field in Chicago next season. Two opponents remain to be slotted for 2010 and three for 2011.
Other than a first-ever meeting with Utah in 2010, and another first-time opponent in South Florida in 2011, the upcoming schedules don’t vary much from 2009 with many of the traditional opponents making up the bulk of the schedule.
The schedule takes on a more varied look in 2012 when Notre Dame plays Baylor in New Orleans, goes to Oklahoma for the first game of a home-and-home series, and also travels to Ireland for a game with Navy.
All future schedules are subject to change, but expect many of the scheduling initiatives White put in place to remain during Swarbrick’s time at Notre Dame.
FUTURE ND SCHEDULES
These schedules are tentative and subject to change. Game dates may be moved to accommodate scheduling conflicts that arise.
2010
9-4 Purdue
9-11 Michigan
9-18 @ Michigan State
9-25 Stanford
10-2 @ Boston College
10-9 Pittsburgh
10-16 Army (neutral site)
10-23 Navy (Baltimore)
11-13 Utah
11-27 @ Southern California
Two games TBD
2011
9-3 @ Purdue
9-10 @ Michigan
9-17 Michigan State
9-24 @ Pittsburgh
10-1 South Florida
10-15 Army (neutral site)
10-22 Southern California
10-29 Navy
11-5 Connecticut
Three games TBD
2012
9-8 Purdue
10-6 vs. Baylor @New Orleans, LA
10-20 Pittsburgh
11-24 @ Southern California
TBA Navy @Dublin, Ireland
TBA @ Oklahoma
TBA Michigan
TBA Wake Forest
TBA @ Michigan State
Three games TBA
2013
10-5 Arizona State @Arlington, TX
10-19 Southern California
10-26 @ Connecticut (site TBA)
11-9 @ Pittsburgh
TBA Oklahoma
TBA Navy
TBA @ Purdue
TBA @ Michigan
TBA Michigan State
Three games TBA
